With probable opening-day starter Jarrod Parker throwing Friday against the Giants, also at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, that suggests that Gray, who has only half a season's worth of big league experience, will start the second game of the season against Cleveland on April 1 in Oakland.

Gray has been the No. 2 man before. In the playoffs last year, he pitched in the second game of the American League Division Series against the Tigers, and his eight shutout innings helped give the A's their first win of the series.

It could happen like that again come April, but there are no guarantees.

"It would be wrong to read too much into that," Melvin said. "There's a whole spring left. There are plenty of ways we could readjust the rotation between now and then."

All things being equal, A.J. Griffin probably would have gotten Saturday's start, and the subject of Gray's positioning in the rotation come April wouldn't have come up before the first Cactus League game had even been played.

But Griffin is being held back until he's faced hitters in live batting practice twice, so he likely won't make a Cactus League start until the second time through the rotation. In Griffin's place, Gray is getting the start against Texas, a team he did not face in 10 starts after being promoted from Triple-A Sacramento.

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Once he's up and in the mix, Griffin could very well wind up as the No. 2 man behind Parker, based on Griffin's team-best 200 innings pitched and 14 wins a year ago.

If it happened that Gray was to be the No. 2 man, however, Melvin wouldn't have a problem with either his youth (24) or inexperience (12 major league games, 10 of them starts).

"If that's the way it happens, I think he'd do a good job there," Melvin said. "The only thing he hasn't done has been here a full year. Based on where he was at the end of last season, it felt like he'd been here for the whole season."

Gray turned in one of the most impressive A's pitching performances of the season in Game 2 of the playoffs. Pitching at the Coliseum, he limited the Tigers to four hits and no runs. He took the loss in Game 5, giving up three runs in five innings, but generally stepped up as if he had the maturity of a six-year veteran.

"The stuff he has and the way he pitched at the end of the season marks him as someone who could pitch anywhere in the rotation," pitching coach Curt Young said. "He's a top of the rotation guy."

"Last year was all about getting him some experience, then getting him confident," Melvin said. "He hit the ground running once he got here. He's looking forward to getting a full season in and doing the best he can to help his team win."

Scott Kazmir is likely to get Sunday's start, and that indicates that he'd be the team's No. 3 starter. If so, his first start with the Athletics would be against Cleveland, the team for which he pitched last year.

To watch Eric Sogard go about his work Monday at A's camp, you would think it was a normal day. It wasn't. Sogard was pitted against the Giants' Buster Posey in MLB Network's "The Face of Baseball" competition. The voting, held on Twitter, runs through 5 a.m. Tuesday. There is a limit of 25 votes per Twitter name. Many of his teammates are tweeting support for Sogard.

Craig Gentry's back issues are subsiding, but the club is holding the outfielder out of full workouts for at least a few days longer.

Brandon Moss, who missed Sunday's workout with a family medical issue, was back with the team Monday.

Jesse Chavez, who starts Wednesday's game against the Giants, continues to win praise from Melvin for his workouts. "He looks like he's ready to start the season right now," Melvin said. "Versatility wise, we used him as much as anyone (last year), He has absolutely the right mindset every day. That's one of the reason we had no problem giving him that start Wednesday."

Reliever Ryan Cook, held out because of right shoulder stiffness, is getting closer to being able to throw his first bullpen of the spring. Monday he threw on the side at a distance of 105 feet.